Thursday, January 19, 2017

The "American Dream" in two graphs

David Leonhardt points to the latest analysis from Raj Chetty and Co about intergenerational mobility, the archetype of the "American Dream". The headline finding is that while in 1940 a child born into the average US household had 92% chance of making more money than his or her parent, the same had fallen to just 50% by 1980.

The first graph shows that the percentage of children earning more than their parents (at the age of 30) has been declining steadily since 1940.

The second graph shows a secular decline, across the entire income percentile.